School starts tomorrow!!

Dear Elder Nielsen,

AP??? I can't believe that. Is your Mission President Loco???  No that is great and we would not expect any thing less from you. I am sure you will be great at it. Just remember the Lord qualifies those who he calls to positions whether you think you are ready or not.

Remember to work hard, be exactly obedient and follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost in all things and you will be fine.

I can't believe that we are back in school tomorrow. I don't know where the time goes, but it definitely passes us by quickly. That was a very quick summer break. I can't remember much of what I did last week. With the college classes starting tomorrow, I worked every day until 7 pm or later. The week before school starts is a very busy week. I went in to work for 6 hours yesterday on Saturday. I wasn't able to make it to go hunting with Joe Debraga.

I have been very busy trying to get all the students their money and get my accounting class ready to go for this semester. Summer left on her first high school over night trip to Reno with the girls soccer team. They left Thursday at 3 pm and played 2 games on Friday and Saturday. They played Bishop Gorman and lost 7-0. Bishop Gorman lost in the state championship game last year but have all their girls back from that team. They have 3 or 4 girls that are already committed to D-1 schools. They played Sparks that afternoon and lost 2-1. On Saturday they played Damonte Ranch Elko won 3-2 in penalty kicks and then they play Reno and lost 5-1. I did not know if Summer would get much playing time on the varsity, but she subbed in for a girl and relieved her in both the games on Friday, but then she played the entire 2 games on Saturday and never came out. She is playing midfield and is the only one that gets back on defense after the offensive push. She said she was running back as fast as she could whether she was tired or not. Her coach told her she was thinking about subbing her out on one of those games, but decided she needed Summer on the field. So that is really good. She might see a lot of playing time on varsity as a freshman. The newspaper said that she would probably "see some playing time and is the younger sister of Erin Nielsen Welch who play on varsity for many years."

We had a back to school BBQ for the ward on Saturday evening at the park. It was a very pleasant evening but we only had about 60 people there. Our ward is hurting for active members.

Sabrina Welch had her wedding reception on Saturday as well. So we went over to that. Landon and Erin were in town staying with us over  the weekend, so that was fun. They told the younger 3 girls about their big news of Erin expecting and Addelaide said "I already knew". I guess Addie and Carly had Erin's phone and were going through their pictures and saw the picture of the ultra sound and figured that Erin was expecting. 

I went to the 1st Elko football game friday night, they played Dayton and won 27-0, but both teams did not look very good. Dayton has not scored a point in like 14 games. But Elko did not look very good. They all looked weak. Eric Klekas is playing QB. Spring Creek beat Lowry 45-7, so it sounds like Lowry is still struggling.

We are heading over to Utah this morning with Landon and Erin to go hear Braden Nielsen's farewell talk. He leaves on his mission Sept. 14th. Erin and Landon left their car in Utah from the wedding and they will go back to Rexburg this evening. It will be a quick trip as we have to get back tonight and give the girls their father's blessing and get ready for school tomorrow.

We hope you have a great week. We love you and are happy you are serving the Lord on a mission. You are a great missionary and we are well pleased with your example of obedience and hard work.

Landon said he loved working with his mission president and seeing how keys of the priesthood in action as they worked and counseled together. Be very observant and take in every thing you can with this great opportunity you have to serve side by side with the mission president. It will bless your life for ever.

We love you,

Dad

One Last Week of Summer Vacation

Hola Elder Nielsen,

Another week in the books and I think back at what happened and I can't remember much. These past few weeks have been very hard as we have been staying up late watching the olympics until 11 pm and then getting up at 4:30 am to 5 am. We are not functioning very well on lack of sleep. 

On Monday, Summer found out that she made the varsity soccer team (we are giving thanks to Erin and the reputation she build in that program). They kept 19 girls, 4 freshmen, so that is good. They have their first games in Reno this Friday and Saturday. We will see how they do. This Friday is the 1st home high school football game as well.

On Tuesday I went to Battle Mountain to meet with students. As I was meeting with this one student, the missionaries from Elko called to see when they could meet with her again. I told her to let us know and she could be taught in our home. She was suppose to come by my office this past week and I have not heard any thing yet. I was also trying to follow up with the college student that said yes to listening to the missionaries, but she has not responded to my texts. But we will get something set up with her.

I can't remember much about Wed through Friday, not much happened I guess. I am trying to get ready to teach my accounting class this fall and get all the students paid their financial aid money. It is a busy time of year. I am also trying to finish up all my tax returns. Joe Debraga called me this past week and wants me to go call him in a bull elk for the archery hunt. I would love to do that, but not sure how it will fit in my schedule.

On Saturday, I finished painting another set of blinds and worked on taxes. We sure do like the Olympics. The US is winning in the total metal count. The US women soccer team lost and will not get a metal. The closing ceremonies are tonight and mom and I will be happy to get our lives back on schedule.

We had good meetings at church. We invited Brother and Sister Halls and their 18 year old grandson over for dinner as we as Sister Guyampo, a lady in our ward from Ghana Africa. She is married but her husband is still in Africa and can't get a visa. She has been here for over a year and has not seen her husband. It was a great Sunday afternoon dinner with great people. We were happy to share our meal with all of those individuals.

Keep working hard. We love you and always pray for your success. Keep working with those who have the smoking addiction, and they will bounce back. It is better that they have their relapse now vs after they are baptized. We are happy you are a missionary. Serve the Lord the best you possible can. You are on the down hill side, so make the most out of every minute. Be humble and an example to all the other missionaries.

Love

Dad

California Fun

Hola Elder Nielsen,

How was your week. Ours was good. Mom and the girls took the camry and left for California Monday morning. I stayed home and worked and took care of Chica and the paper route for the week. It was a pretty tough week. The Olympics are on, so I stay up late until 11 pm watching that and then I get up at 3:45 am to do the paper route and get to basketball at 5:30 am. 

The paper route takes about 1 1/2 hours to do by oneself.  At 4 am, it is very dark and I was out there with the flashlight and mom's list trying to figure out the houses. I was about 1/2 hour late for bball. The I came home and showered and took Chica over to the Simons house and I had to be in Winnemucca at 9:30 am to meet with students. I was about 15 minutes late for that too. My 1st appointment was the lady that was a member of the church and hadn't been to church in 27 years that I met in January. We took care of her financial aid, and only had about 7 minutes to visit about life before my 2nd appointment arrived. But she said she had been going to church for about 3-4 months but had stopped the past 3-4 weeks. She said the Relief Society Pres. has never said a word to her and that she really didn't care for her ward that much. I told her to not worry about the ward, this was her salvation that she needed to work on, and it was between her and the Lord and no one else. She said she had a hard time since the church always talks about families and her husband is not a member and against the church and her 2 kids did not want to attend, so it was difficult for her to hear that and have no family support. It kind of sounded like Whitney's reasoning for not attending church. It must be another arsenal that Satan is using in these last days. She also did not like the new missionaries, that they were too pushy, etc. She said she still has not read the Book of Mormon yet. So I gave her another challenge/assignment. I told her to read the B.O.M. for 15 - 30 minutes every day 1st thing in the morning and see how her days go, compared to the days when she did not read it. And to pray about it with an open mind. She said she would and would report back. It was a good visit, but I would have liked more time to visit about the gospel with her and answer her questions.

I went to lunch and when I came back, there was this 2 foot gold statue of the angel Moroni (replica from temples) on my desk with a note. She said in the note " Thank you for being such a source of comfort to me. I know you were sent to me because God knew I needed you. This was my Dad's and I want you to have it. Thanks Shelley"  The lady in the Winnemucca office  said when she went in there, she was just bawling as she was writing that note. I thought that was a very sweet experience and note. I think that is one of my gifts to meet with people and and encourage them to come unto Christ and live the commandments. It seems like he uses me a lot in that category.

So I spent Tuesday and Wed. in Winnemucca and came back to Elko and pick up Chica around 6 pm. And I had to get up at 3:45 am to do the papers again. 

Mom and the girls got home safely on Friday from California and Summer had soccer tryouts on Sat. They are only going to have a varsity team not a JV team.

I just saw that you sent a letter. I will send this and tell you the rest later.

Love 

DAD

Elder Nielsen,

I hurry and sent that last letter and gave the computer to mom for her to write her letter and I got on the other lap top to finish my letter. Any way, mom and the girls got home from California around 1:30 pm Friday. Summer had a physical exam with the Dr. so she could try out on Saturday. They only had 29 girls try out and the coach said they needed 32 to field a JV and varsity team. So they will not have a JV team. I think that is crazy as that is the feeding ground for the future varsity team. And if the keep 20 girls, half of them will not see any playing time. I told Summer, to do her best and what ever is best for her will happen and not to worry about it. I do think that they would keep Summer based on Erin's reputation since Erin was such a strong player on varsity for 4 years. We will see.

It was good to have mom and the girls home again. Michael Phelps won like 6 more gold medals and a silver medal in swimming again this year. That makes 23 gold medals for him over his career, the most ever by an individual. We enjoy watching the olympics. In Winnemucca, I had 4 channels on the olympics, so I watched archery, ping pong, etc. It was great. I enjoy the men's and women's volleyball. 

Saturday, we worked around the house and watched the olympics. I was tired all day. We worked on sanding and painting more blinds in the kitchen. Sat. evening we went to Cody McCarrey and Amy Grubaugh's wedding reception. We only made it for the last 1/2 hour as we were waiting for Summer to finish her soccer tryouts. It was nice.

Sunday, Grandma Croft called and said they were having a family meeting about the Tuddenham farm and wanted us to fast. So mom and I fasted for that. They were trying to decided what to do with all that. Summer had her Seminary meeting for all students and parents tonight and we just got home from that. School is starting later this year for all grades except seniors so she will start at 6:45 am. School starts at 7:45 am. We have been watching the Simon's dog the past 2 days. They get back tomorrow.

I also made 2 invitations this past week for people to be taught by the missionaries in our home. One accepted and the other really did not say yes or no. The one that accepted would be attending the YSA branch and has had a lot of difficulties in her life. Her family has basically disowned her. I have talked to her before about the gospel and she was very resistant. She is very religious, but I think she has been told lots of things that are not true about out church. But she has met the sister missionaries for the YSA branch and likes them. They are 2 sisters that are full of the spirit. So we will have to make arrangements. She did not have any money to buy food, so I invited her over for dinner with the missionaries and a discussion afterward and she said yes. We just need to figure out a time. The other person was a student who I had met with a couple times before and she called me in late July saying that her dad had been diagnosed with cancer and only had 2 months to live. I told her family comes first in my book and that I would do the same thing.. drop her classes and spend more time with her father. Well after I talked to her, I saw her dad's obituary in the newspaper that he had passed away. She said he died the day she talked to me on the phone 2 weeks after his diagnosis. But I noticed his funeral was in the East stake building. So I asked her if she was a member and she said no, but her dad was. I asked her if she thought she would ever see her dad again and she said she did not know, that that was a hard question.

I bore her my witness about the plan of salvation and asked if she would like to hear more from the missionaries. She really did not say yes or no, but I left it open for her to contact me if she was interested. She is actually taking my accounting class this semester so I will follow up with her again in class. Time will tell. But I made the invitation and did my part. Not a bad week for missionary work here on the home front.

Also we were watching BYU TV this morning and there was a very interesting video that they showed. They were talking to people who lived in the Netherlands and in Germany after WWII.  I guess people in both countries were starving from lack of food. Germany had destroyed most of the Netherlands and the Dutch people did not like the Germans at all. Leaders of the church told the Dutch people that if they kept the commandments that they would be blessed. Kind of like the same challenge they gave the members of the church in Southern Utah when all their crops were dying from lack of rain. So the Dutch people planted all these potatoes to help them from their starvation knowing that if they kept the commandments they would be blessed. The people in germany were only eating 2 slices of bread per day. One guy said they would toast the bread and put a piece in their mouth and let it sit there until their mouth would hurt to try to take away their hunger pains. Another lady said her mother asked her what she wanted for her birthday and she replied, I only want to have one day in my life where I am not hungry. Can you imagine?? When it came time to harvest the potatoes in the Netherlands, the leaders of the church asked the Dutch members if they would send all they potatoes to germany as the members there were in worst shape than they were. The members could not believe what was being asked of them. The germans had bombed them and destroyed all their crops and now you want us to give all our potatoes to the Germans. It took a lot of convincing and the Dutch members repenting of their hatred, but they did it. They sent like 70 tons of potatoes where each member German family got 100 lbs of potatoes. It was an amazing show, but they dutch people were blessed tremendously because of that. A testimony building story.

We love you, the gospel is true.

Love,

Dad

Summer Olympics have started

Hello Elder Nielsen,

We got a kick out of your rat hunting story. That was pretty funny. We told Erin that she should send that story to Hermana Bott to compare to their rat hunting experience.

We had a good week. I left Monday morning to drive down to Pahrump and spent the week down their meeting with students. I wasn't as busy as I have been in past years. Usually, I don't have time to breath, but it was a nice change. Summer had a small birthday party with 3 or 4 of her LDS friends on Monday.

I was talking to a student lady on the phone from Henderson Nevada, and she just sounded like she was LDS, and I asked her and she was. She said she thought by talking to me that I was LDS as well. I thought that was interesting thing, that we could tell we were LDS just by talking to each other on the phone. Other than that it was pretty uneventful down in Pahrump. 

I got home home Friday night around 7 pm. The opening ceremonies of the Olympics started on Friday night.  We are excited to watch that for the next 2 weeks. Erin and Landon were here in Elko this weekend for Whitney Welch's wedding.  They had her reception on Saturday night. They had a popcorn bar which I enjoyed. I love pop corn. Her husband has a guide service in Idaho, right along the Wyoming border where I went that one year to hunt for elk. His name is Cody and seems like a really nice guy. It was good to have Erin and Landon here for the weekend. They stayed with us. On Saturday, we worked around the house. I finished the trim around the door to my office. Then we went to the reception Sat. evening. 

Sunday was fast Sunday and we had some good meetings. Sundays are always nice. We love them.

We hope you have a great week. Keep working hard. Alex Jordan comes home this week. He has sure changed a ton for the better by his mission. It seems like he was sure a good missionary. We love you and pray for your success daily. How did the umbrella hold up with the line drive? Those rats are usually pretty big. I imagine that it did a number on your umbrella. Has the rainy season started over there yet?

We are happy you are serving a the Lord as a missionary. Enjoy every minute!

Love,

Dad